Basic Commands to Manage WebSite/AppPool in IIS

In this article, we will learn the most useful and powerful command-line tool, AppCmd, for publishing or hosting a website on IIS. Using the AppCmd tool, we can host static as well as a dynamic website (ASP.NET Webform, MVC, Dot Net Core etc) easily. The appcmd can be found at c:\Windows\System32\inetsrv on a web server.

List all commands:

List all available commands and actions in AppCmd. As per screenshot, it is clear that Command Prompt is run as administrator and run AppCmd which return list of supported Command.

# AppCmd
or
# AppCmd /?

List App, Site, AppPool, etc.:

List all hosted or published websites in IIS. In other words, use following command to display all the app and sites configure in your IIS Server.

# appcmd list app
# appcmd list site
# appcmd list apppool

List Website:

List the new hosted or published websites using following command.

# appcmd list site "windows.techoism.net"

Start and Stop hosted Website:

Start and Stop hosted or published website.

# appcmd start site "windows.techoism.net"  
# appcmd stop site "windows.techoism.net"

Enable/Disable Anonymous Authentication:

You can easily enable or disable the anonymous authentication. We use True to Enable and False to Disable the authentication.

# appcmd set config "windows.techoism.net" -section:system.webServer/security/authentication/anonymousAuthentication /enabled:"True" /commit:techpool

Enable Windows Authentication:

Same as anonymous authentication we can also enable or disable the windows authentication for the website. We use True to Enable and False to Disable the authentication.

# appcmd set config "windows.techoism.net" -section:system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication /enabled:"True" /commit:techpool

Change Windows Authentication Providers:

You can also change the windows authentication to NTLM or Negotiate using following commands.

Clear Provider List:

# appcmd set config windows.techoism.net -section:system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication /~providers /commit:techpool

For NTLM Authentication:

# # appcmd set config windows.techoism.net -section:system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication /+providers.[value='NTLM'] /commit:techpool

For Negotiate Authentication:

# appcmd set config windows.techoism.net -section:system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication /+providers.[value='Negotiate'] /commit:techpool

Add Custom Header:

You can also add the custom header using the following commands. For example, nosniff header or IE 7 compatible header

For nosniff Header:

# appcmd set config windows.techoism.net -section:system.webServer/httpProtocol /+customHeaders.[name='X-Content-Type-Options',value='nosniff'] /commit:techpool

For IE 7 Compatible Header:

# appcmd set config windows.techoism.net -section:system.webServer/httpProtocol /+customHeaders.[name='X-UA-Compatible',value='IE=EmulateIE7'] /commit:techpool

Add Default Document:

Add default document using the following command. If default document is already an exist then you will get an error.

# appcmd set config "windows.techoism.net" /section:defaultDocument /+files.[value='default.asmx']

Backup and Restore IIS Settings:

By using the following commands we can backup as well as restore the IIS setting.

For Backup:

# appcmd add backup MyTechIISBackup

For Restore:

# appcmd restore backup MyTechIISBackup

HTTPS Binding:

HTTPS is a secure communications channel that is used to exchange information between a client computer and a server. It uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Use following command for binding website with HTTPS.

# appcmd set site /site.name:"windows.techoism.net" /+bindings.[protocol='https',bindingInformation='*:443:windows.techoism.net']

Delete Site:

Delete the website using following command. If you received an error it’s means website doesn’t exist.

# appcmd delete site "windows.techoism.net"

Delete AppPool:

Delete the apppool using following command. If you received an error it’s means website doesn’t exist or It’s used by app.

# appcmd delete apppool techpool

Enjoy it!